WASHINGTON - Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is offering his verdict on the immigration overhaul legislation now before the Senate. He's against it, at least as currently written.

"There must be a solution to illegal immigration," Cassidy, a 2014 Senate candidate said Monday in a statement. "The solution must begin with securing borders. As now written, the Senate bill does not secure the border and effectively creates a pathway to amnesty. With this in mind, I cannot support the Senate bill in its current form. I anticipate the House putting forward a workable alternative."

Cassidy's statement follows release of polls by two polling groups, one Republican and one Democrat, reporting that the immigration bill, drafted by eight senators - four Democrats and four Republicans - has strong support in 29 states surveyed, including Louisiana. The polls were sponsored by a pro-immigration reform group.

Public Policy Polling, the Democratic group, did the Louisiana poll and found that 43 percent strongly support the legislation, 27 percent somewhat support, while 20 percent oppose. But the question that generated those results, in the view of some of the bill's opponents, is not fairly worded. It says the legislation would secure our borders, and critics, including Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and now Cassidy, question whether the bill would achieve that.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., whom Cassidy is challenging in the 2014 Senate race, has said she is "strongly leaning" to supporting a bipartisan immigration overhaul bill that would allow the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants to eventually qualify for citizenship if they pay back taxes, learn English, pass criminal background checks and pay fines.

But Landrieu said it will come down to the amendment process. She is looking for measures that would strengthen job training so more Americans can get high-tech jobs and adjustments to help small businesses deal with the e-verify system the bill requires to keep undocumented workers from being hired.

If done properly, Landrieu said, the bill would provide an economic boom for Louisiana.

Vitter wants tougher enforcement provisions, including a system to better track people in the United States on temporary visas so they don't overextend their stays as he said some of the 911 terrorists did. Vitter said the "major problem" with the legislation is that it gives illegal immigrants legal status before all the needed enforcement mechanisms are in place.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday that if Republicans kill the immigration bill, the GOP might as well give up any chance of winning the presidency in 2016 -- given the growing clout of Hispanic voters.

Among the provisions of the bill, now being debate in the Senate: are:

• $6.5 billion to improve security along the southwest border with Mexico.

• Require all businesses to check the immigration status of job applications through a computerized "e-verify system."